Ten years ago, WIZARDRY set the standards in Fantasy Role-Playing (FRP). Now after two million copies have been sold and dozens of awards have been won, Bane of the Cosmic Forge raises and redefines those standards. This new WIZARDRY, the truest simulation ever of Fantasy Role Playing, will push your computer, your mind, and your sense of adventure to their very limits. Only through the power of the latest computer technology could the full dimensions of this new genre in FRP be possible.

This is FRP the way you wanted it to be.

Prepare yourself. Take with you six companions - choose wisely, for having chosen, your fate is in their hands. Enter the ancient castle to retrieve the Cosmic Forge, a magical pen whose writings caused the river of time itself to change course. You will find treasure, armor, and magic items to advance your quest; meet wizened and cryptic dwellers who hold secrets that must be unearthed; and solve the riddles and puzzles that abound.

But beware- you and your party will encounter countless dangers, hazards, and creatures of dazzling form to block your way. Only through your magic and skills, ever growing as you progress, can they be vanquished.

And the story, so rich in mythology and legend, weaves a web of intrigue so complex that only you, with patience and travail can unravel.

Let the computer roll the dice, consult the charts and apply the rules. From the 400 items of armor and weaponry researched for authenticity to the realistic combat structure, incorporating Primary and Secondary attack, this reproduction of true FRP within the computer environment will make all other attempts obsolete.

Ah, Wizardry 6. Or, as I like to call it, Locked Doors: The Game. Maybe it's just me, but the doors in this game seem a little hard to open. Having to save before every door is a given; having to reload a save because every door is made of titanium shouldn't be. When you finally pry the door open, you'll be treated to old school monsters like bats and rats that will dodge your every blow as they lay in gentle slumber. No worries, however, for if things get too hairy for you in the depths of this 1990s castle, your characters have the option to run away; which was the default operation of graybeard D&D players who cut their teeth on the 1st edition of the pen-and-paper game. Unbeknownst to you, however, is while you spent thirty rounds swinging in futility at sleeping enemies before they awoke to tear your hide apart, you were set upon by other enemies who ambush you as you run away. Whatevs, you think, I'll just run from them also. Well, when these monsters come to gangbang a party of inadequately-statted paper tigers, they come in droves.

Then, inevitably, Death and his SoundBlaster call, as he stands over your tombstone. Yes, a single tombstone, because in the 8-bit era, your horde of characters are buried in the same hole, piled one upon another like firewood, except firewood is useful and characters in the game of Wizardry are not. But, you, my friend, are a true old school RPG fan, and you never give up. You spend hours rolling another party and head down into the depths, uneasy at the strange feeling that you are not playing a clone of Dungeons & Dragons but of the RPG Paranoia, where the Dungeon is not your friend and the assembly line of heroes who engage in suicide-by-bushwhacker is moving faster than that conveyor belt in I Love Lucy.

You will never give up, not until you beat this damned game. Because it CAN be beaten—can it? Or is this game like the module Tomb of Horrors, an exercise by game developers to assume the role of a merciless and antagonistic god, presiding over a world whose populace is comprised solely of doomed heroes fresh from the womb that see the gates of a hungry dungeon and shudder at their fate.

Addendum: Apparently, there is a tool to boost your ability scores during character creation, which will save you the tedium of hours rerolling your team like I did. It isn't necessary, but welcome, especially on a subsequent playthrough.

This is quite a good game, granted it is old school, real old school. I will caution if you want to play this and start out the Wizardry Trilogy...patience is something you must have! Either that be from making characters that can survive the first parts of the game(even well into the end of the game...) or constant reloading cause you don't want anyone to die from a fight(and thus lose 1 point of Vitality), which is a constant danger, Even with a little bad luck you are in a frustration.

With all that aside, I will say never has a game given it a real sense of victory for gaining a level or beating a group of foes...or even beating that game! Frankly you'll need the guide provided to make any regular progress, otherwise you'll lost for a long time.

So if you want a real old challenge...this is it! Let this be the start of a real adventure!

This is a great game from the olden days where a game wasn't afraid to kill your characters in the first battle. Arm yourself with the included manual and hint book (and don't forget to arm your characters while you're at it...they enjoy walking into dungeons without donning their armor or weilding their weapons). sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Despite the lack of modern graphics and sound, if you give it a chance, you'll really enjoy it and you can carry your band of characters from Wizardry 6 all the way through 8. Unlike other RPG's you'll feel a sense of accomplishment because you helped create these characters and develop their own storyline rather than letting the game decide it for you.